System, method, and apparatus for detecting and characterizing ground motion

ABSTRACT

A system includes a ground based area, an electromagnetic (EM) interrogation device having an EM emitter that directs an EM beam at the ground based area. The EM interrogation device includes a detector array that receives reflected EM radiation from the EM beam, and a controller having a ground movement description module that determines a movement profile of the ground based area in response to the reflected EM radiation.

This application claims the benefit of priority of U.S. provisionalapplication Ser. No. 62/170,086 filed on Jun. 2, 2015, the disclosure ofwhich is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.

DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of theinvention, reference will now be made to specific embodimentsillustrated in the drawings and specific language will be used todescribe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitationof the scope of the invention is thereby intended, and any alterationsand further modifications in the illustrated embodiments, and anyfurther applications of the principles of the invention, as illustratedtherein, as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which theinvention relates, are contemplated herein.

An example system 100 for determining a movement profile of a groundbased area is depicted schematically in FIG. 1. The system 100 includesa ground based area 102. The ground based area 102 is described as“ground based” for purposes of convenient description. However, “ground”as used herein is to be understood broadly, and is understood to includeany reference surface, whether terrestrial, natural, manufactured, orthe like. Non-limiting ground-based areas 134 include, withoutlimitation, a ground area (e.g. earth, rock, etc.), a building, abridge, a parking lot, a water surface (a lake, pond, pool, bay, sectionof ocean, etc.), and/or combinations of these. An example ground basedarea 102 is an area within a larger area 134, which may be the same or adistinct material from the ground based area 102, for example the groundbased area 102 may be a location of interest within the larger area 134.

The system 100 further includes an electromagnetic (EM) interrogationdevice 104 having an EM emitter 106 that directs an EM beam 108 at theground based area 102. The EM beam 108, in certain embodiments, is an EMbeam having a phase and frequency structured to interrogate the groundbased area 102 and provide motion information about the ground basedarea 102. Example and non-limiting EM beams 108 include coherent light(LIDAR) and/or laser LADAR beams. Example EM beams 108 include aselected waveform, such as a laser waveform, and further includingwithout limitation a pulse doublet, a frequency modulated waveform, achirped waveform, and/or a random or pseudo-random coded waveform. Afrequency “chirped” waveform can be chirped in one or bothdirections—for example with a saw tooth wave waveform with increasing ordecreasing frequency. Example and non-limiting waveform selectionexamples include waveform selections to enhance range resolution orrange precision, waveform selections to perform unambiguous rangedetermination, waveform selections to positively identify whichreturning EM radiation reflection corresponds to which emitted EMradiation pulse, and/or waveform selections to enhance velocitydetermination precision or resolution.

The system 100 further includes a detector array 110 that receivesreflected EM radiation from the EM beam 108. An example detector array110 is a grid of optical detection pixels, and may receive reflected EMradiation through the same aperture or a distinct aperture from the oneused in emitting the EM beam 108. The detector array 110 is depicted inthe same line of sight as the EM beam 108 with the ground based area 102for convenience of description, however a beam splitter or other opticaldevice may be utilized wherein the detector array may be alternativelyarranged. Any arrangement of the detector array 110 and EM emitter 106is contemplated herein.

The system 100 is described for convenience having a detector array 110that conceptually scans the ground based area 102 with an arrayconsisting one or more detectors. Each detector can for example generatea two dimension pixel, or a 3 dimensional voxel, as well as measuringvelocity. It is contemplated herein that a system 100 may includemultiple range returns within a pixel, for example providing multiple 3dimensional voxels within in a single angle/angle pixel location. One ofskill in the art having the benefit of the disclosure herein can readilyconfigure a system 100 to use pixels, voxels, or other imagingdescription techniques, and these are not limiting to the system 100.

An example system 100 includes the EM beam 108 illuminating a large areaof the ground based area 102, and the detector array 110 receivingreflected EM radiation from the entire illuminated area and/or scannedand/or stepped staer portions of the illuminated area—for examplecovering 32×32 detectors, or 128×128 pixels, or the like. An exampleimplementation includes stepping a focal plane array based camera ten(10) times in one direction, or in a 3×4 pattern of the illuminatedarea. Another example includes utilizing a linear array of detectors 110covering all or a portion of the illuminated region, and then scanningthe linear array. Another example includes utilizing a 2-D pixel arrayof detectors 110, such as 128 in the cross scan direction by 10 in thescan direction, and scanning in the scan (10) direction, adding movementinformation each time the detectors 110 collect EM reflectioninformation. An example including ten detectors 110 would includesampling the scan direction ten (10) times.

The system 100 further includes a controller 112. The system includes acontroller having a number of modules structured to functionally executeoperations to detect and characterize ground motion of the ground basedarea 102. Any controller described herein forms a portion of aprocessing subsystem including one or more computing devices havingmemory, processing, and communication hardware. Each controller may be asingle device or a distributed device, and the functions of eachcontroller may be performed by hardware and/or as computer instructionson a non-transient computer readable storage medium.

In certain embodiments, a controller includes one or more modulesstructured to functionally execute the operations of the controller. Thedescription herein including modules emphasizes the structuralindependence of the aspects of the controller, and illustrates onegrouping of operations and responsibilities of the controller. Othergroupings that execute similar overall operations are understood withinthe scope of the present application. Modules may be implemented inhardware and/or as computer instructions on a non-transient computerreadable storage medium, and modules may be distributed across varioushardware or computer based components.

Example and non-limiting module implementation elements include sensorsproviding any value determined herein, sensors providing any value thatis a precursor to a value determined herein, datalink and/or networkhardware including communication chips, oscillating crystals,communication links, cables, twisted pair wiring, coaxial wiring,shielded wiring, transmitters, receivers, and/or transceivers, logiccircuits, hard-wired logic circuits, reconfigurable logic circuits in aparticular non-transient state configured according to the modulespecification, any actuator including at least an electrical, hydraulic,or pneumatic actuator, a solenoid, an op-amp, analog control elements(springs, filters, integrators, adders, dividers, gain elements), and/ordigital control elements.

Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, hardware and/or process implementationsincluded in any one or more of the modules described herein, includingthe ground movement description module 202, the synchronization module204, the noise input module, 206, and the composition determinationmodule 208 may include, without limitation, a LIDAR device, a LADARdevice, a Laser radar device, an EM emitter, an EM receiver, one or morereceiving apertures, a synthetic aperture EM emitter and receiver(synthetic aperture radar—SAR, or a synthetic aperture lidar—SAL), aninverse SAR or inverse SAL, and/or one or more receiving detector orpixel grids. Additionally or alternatively, hardware and/or processimplementations in one or more modules may include a 1-D, 2-D, and/or3-D EM detection and receiving device. Additionally or alternatively,hardware and/or process implementations included in one or more modulesmay include a coherent EM detection and receiving device, a polarized EMdetection and receiving device, an EM detection and receiving devicewith a polarization splitter, a differential absorption EM detection andreceiving device, a Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) device,a Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF) device, and/or an EM detection anreceiving device using polarization as a discriminate to distinguishbetween materials and/or surfaces. Additionally or alternatively,hardware and/or process implementations included in one or more modulesmay include an active multispectral EM emitter and receiver device, anon-mechanical steerable EM emitter (e.g. a phased array, or phasedarray of phased arrays LIDAR), a multiple-input multiple-output, MIMO,EM emitter and receiver device, an EM detection and receiving deviceusing a local oscillator (LO) to detect the received phase and amplitudeof an EM field, a heterodyne EM detection and receiving device (atemporal heterodyne and/or a spatial heterodyne device), a Gaussian EMemitter, and/or a super-Gaussian EM emitter, or an EM emitter with ashaped, or a different, emission pattern.

Additionally or alternatively, hardware and/or process implementationsin one or more modules may include a GPS, an oriented GPS and/orcompass, an aiming gimbal, a fast-steering mirror, a Risley prism and/orgrating, a polygon scanning mirror, a liquid crystal steering device, anelectro-wetting steering device, a steerable electro-evanescent opticalrefraction device, a polarization birefringent grating beam steeringdevice, a liquid crystal polarization grating steering device (single ormultiple stages), a lenslet-based beam steering device, anelectronically written lenslet steering device, and/or a mixed lensletarray steering device. Additionally or alternatively, modules may beconstructed to be in communication with and/or to receive non-transientinformation from any of these.

Additionally or alternatively, modules may include processing operationsto extract field amplitude and phase information from multipleinterferograms, to make skew and/or trapezoid corrections, to makecorner cube corrections (dihedral or trihedral), to make specklecorrections, to make atmospheric absorption corrections, atmosphericscattering corrections, atmospheric turbulence corrections, aero-opticaleffects corrections, signal-to-noise corrections (e.g. thermal noise,shot noise, background noise, and dark current noise), adjustments toimprove heterodyne mixing efficiency, pulse coding (for noisecorrection, unambiguous range determination, etc.), and/or rangemeasurement processing of the EM pulse information. Additionally oralternatively, modules may include processing operations to makecorrections include analytical operations to correct for observedeffects, and/or hardware selection choices to mitigate predicted and/orobserved effects for a given system 100 and ground based area 102.

Certain operations described herein include operations to interpret ordetermine one or more parameters. Interpreting or determining, asutilized herein, includes receiving values by any method known in theart, including at least receiving values from a datalink or networkcommunication, receiving an electronic signal (e.g. a voltage,frequency, current, or PWM signal) indicative of the value, receiving acomputer generated parameter indicative of the value, reading the valuefrom a memory location on a non-transient computer readable storagemedium, receiving the value as a run-time parameter by any means knownin the art, and/or by receiving a value by which the interpretedparameter can be calculated, and/or by referencing a default value thatis interpreted to be the parameter value.

Referencing FIG. 2, the controller 112 includes a ground movementdescription module 202 that determines a movement profile 212 of theground based area 102 in response to the reflected EM radiation 108.Example and non-limiting implementations of the ground movementdescription module 202 include hardware, processing, and/or operationsto query the ground based area 102 with EM radiation, to determine themovement of the ground based area 102 during a time of interest, and toconstruct the movement profile 212 in response to the movement of theground based area 102 during the time of interest. In certainembodiments, the movement profile 212 is constructed from spatialdisplacement of the ground based area 102, from the velocity of theground based area 102, from the acceleration of the ground based area102, from frequency information included in the movement of the groundbased area 102, from vibration information included in the movement ofthe ground based area 102, and/or from one or more of these included inportions of the ground based area 102 from one or more locations of theground based area 102 and/or at the same location within the groundbased area 102.

An example movement profile 212 includes a velocity value 220 of theground based area 102. For example, the ground movement descriptionmodule 202 calculates whether any portion of the ground based area 102is in motion during the time of observation, and reports the velocityvalue 220 of the motion as the movement profile 212. The examplevelocity value 220 is reported for any portion of the ground based area102 at a selected spatial resolution (e.g. the “X-Y” plane relative tothe detector array 110) according to the capability of the EM beam 108and detector array 110, potentially the processing capability availableto the processing subsystem of the system 100, as well as the underlyingprinciples of the observed aspect of the ground based area 102. Theexample velocity value 220 is reported for any portion of the groundbased area 102 at a selected depth of field 216 resolution (e.g. the “Z”plane relative to the detector array 110) according to, withoutlimitation, the capability of the EM emitter 106 and EM beam 108, theselected phase and frequency of the EM beam 108, and/or the use ofcertain techniques such as the use of a local oscillator (LO) to enhancethe depth of field 216 resolution capability.

The velocity value 220 of the motion reported as the movement profile212 may be any velocity value understood in the art that is relevant tothe system of interest, and will be dependent upon the underlyingprinciples of operation of the system and the reason for observing theground based area 102. Example considerations include, withoutlimitation, a velocity value 220 of the ground based area 102 consistentwith degradation of a component of the system, a velocity value 220consistent with a successful treatment operation, a velocity value 220consistent with a mechanical failure of a component of the system, avelocity value 220 consistent with a loss of fluid or hydrauliccontainment, a velocity value 220 consistent with an intentionallyinduced mechanical stress, and/or velocity values 220 consistent withimminent incidents of the foregoing. Example and non-limiting velocityvalues 220 includes a maximum observed value of the velocity, anaveraged value of the velocity over any portion of the observationperiod and/or throughout the observation period, a root-mean-squaredvalue of the velocity for any statistically relevant portion of theobserved velocity values, a sequence of corresponding time and velocitypaired values (e.g. a velocity plot or equivalent stored data), and/orany other description of the velocity value 220. One of skill in theart, having an understanding of the system ordinarily available, and thebenefit of the disclosure herein, will readily understand velocityvalues 220 to include in a movement profile 212.

An example controller 112 includes the ground movement descriptionmodule 202 that determines the movement profile 212 in response to aposition value 222 of the ground based area 102. For example, the groundmovement description module 202 calculates whether any portion of theground based area 102 has moved or been displaced during the time ofobservation, and reports the position value 222 of the ground based area102 as the movement profile 212. The example position value 222 isreported for any portion of the ground based area 102 at a selectedresolution according to the capability of the EM beam 108 and detectorarray 110, potentially the processing capability available to theprocessing subsystem of the system 100, as well as the underlyingprinciples of the observed aspect of the ground based area 102.

Example considerations include, without limitation, a position value 222of the ground based area 102 consistent with degradation of a componentof the system, a position value 222 consistent with a successfultreatment operation, a position value 222 consistent with a mechanicalfailure of a component of the system, a position value 222 consistentwith a loss of fluid or hydraulic containment, a position value 222consistent with an intentionally induced mechanical stress, a positionvalue 222 consistent with a depletion of an amount of fluid in a fluidreservoir, a position value 222 utilized to provide a surfacedescription in response to the movement profile, and/or to provide asubsystem volume in response to the surface description, and/or positionvalues 222 consistent with imminent incidents of the foregoing.

Example and non-limiting position values 222 include a maximum observedvalue of the position, an averaged value of the position over anyportion of the observation period and/or throughout the observationperiod, a root-mean-squared value of the position for any statisticallyrelevant portion of the observed position values, a sequence ofcorresponding time and position paired values (e.g. a position plot orequivalent stored data), and/or any other description of the positionvalue 222. One of skill in the art, having an understanding of thesystem ordinarily available, and the benefit of the disclosure herein,will readily understand position values 222 to include in a movementprofile 212.

An example controller 112 includes the ground movement descriptionmodule 202 that determines the movement profile 212 in response to anacceleration value 224 of the ground based area 102. For example, theground movement description module 202 calculates whether any portion ofthe ground based area 102 experiences an acceleration event during thetime of observation, and reports the acceleration value 224 of theground based area 202 as the movement profile 212. The exampleacceleration value 224 is reported for any portion of the ground basedarea 102 at a selected spatial resolution (e.g. the “X-Y” plane relativeto the detector array 110) according to the capability of the EM beam108 and detector array 110, potentially the processing capabilityavailable to the processing subsystem of the system 100, as well as theunderlying principles of the observed aspect of the ground based area102. The example acceleration value 224 is reported for any portion ofthe ground based area 102 at a selected depth of field 216 resolution(e.g. the “Z” plane relative to the detector array 110) according to,without limitation, the capability of the EM emitter 106 and EM beam108, the selected phase and frequency of the EM beam 108, the use ofcertain techniques such as the use of a local oscillator (LO) to enhancethe phase and/or velocity information, and/or the execution rates of theacceleration determination operations and the processing power committedto the acceleration determination operations.

The acceleration value 224 of the motion reported as the movementprofile 212 may be any acceleration value understood in the art that isrelevant to the system of interest, and will be dependent upon theunderlying principles of operation of the system and the reason forobserving the ground based area 102. Example considerations include,without limitation, an acceleration value 224 of the ground based area202 consistent with degradation of a component of the system, anacceleration value 224 consistent with a successful treatment operation,an acceleration value 224 consistent with a mechanical failure of acomponent of the system, an acceleration value 224 consistent with aloss of fluid or hydraulic containment, an acceleration value 224consistent with an intentionally induced mechanical stress, and/orvelocity values 220 consistent with imminent incidents of the foregoing.

Example and non-limiting acceleration values 224 include a maximumobserved value of the acceleration, an averaged value of theacceleration over any portion of the observation period and/orthroughout the observation period, a root-mean-squared value of thevelocity for any statistically relevant portion of the observedacceleration values, a sequence of corresponding time and accelerationpaired values (e.g. an acceleration plot or equivalent stored data),and/or any other description of the acceleration value 224. One of skillin the art, having an understanding of the system ordinarily available,and the benefit of the disclosure herein, will readily understandacceleration values 224 to include in a movement profile 212.

An example controller 112 includes the ground movement descriptionmodule 202 that determines the movement profile 212 in response to afrequency value 226 of the ground based area 102. For example, theground movement description module 202 calculates frequency values 226in the movement of the ground based area 102, and provides the movementprofile 212 in response to the frequency values 226. Non-limitingexamples include determining frequency based information from any deviceor subsystem in stress communication with the ground based area 102. Forexample and without limitation, identification of equipment, detectionof degradation of equipment and/or devices, passing of communicationsignals, determination of event occurrences and types, are all potentialuses of the movement profile 212 from the frequency value 226 by one ofskill in the art having the benefit of the disclosures herein. Themovement profile 212 may be constructed from the frequency value 226utilizing frequency deconvolution techniques such as, withoutlimitation, Fourier transforms, fast Fourier transforms (FFTs), highspeed sampling, and/or the frequency values 226 may be utilized directlywithout deconvolution of the movement values of the ground based area102.

An example operation to utilize the frequency values 226 to provide themovement profile 212 includes determining an amplitude of a movement ofa portion of the system 100 in response to 1) understanding an expectedcontribution of the portion of the system (e.g. due to a resonantfrequency or operating frequency of the portion of the system), 2)detecting the actual contribution of the portion of the system (e.g.detecting the actual contribution at the resonant frequency or operatingfrequency by observing the area where the portion of the system wouldcause movement, and performing an FFT to see if movement is occurring atthe expected frequency), and 3) comparing the expected contribution tothe actual contribution to determine if (a few examples): the equipmentis operating properly, or if the bridge is deflecting more thanexpected, or if the equipment has not yet been activated, or if one ofthe cylinders is not operating properly, etc.

Example and non-limiting operations to utilize the frequency values 226to provide the movement profile 212 include: determining messages from afrequency modulated signal, determining that a movement is not abackground or noise movement in response to a frequency value 226,backing out a noise component from the movement in response to afrequency value 226, backing out a known noise component from themovement in response to a known frequency value 226, and/or backing outa common mode noise component that occurs in both a first EM detectiondevice 104 and a second EM detection device 118 at a particularfrequency value 226.

An example controller 112 includes the ground movement descriptionmodule 202 that determines the movement profile 212 in response to aphase value 228 of the ground based area 102. For example, the groundmovement description module 202 calculates phase values 228 in themovement of the ground based area 102, and provides the movement profile212 in response to the phase values 228. Non-limiting examples includedetermining phase based information from any device or subsystem instress communication with the ground based area 102. For example andwithout limitation, identification of equipment, detection ofdegradation of equipment and/or devices, passing of communicationsignals, determination of event occurrences and types, are all potentialuses of the movement profile 212 from the phase value 228 by one ofskill in the art having the benefit of the disclosures herein.

An example operation to utilize the phase value(s) 228 to provide themovement profile 212 includes determining an amplitude of a movement ofa portion of the system 100 in response to 1) understanding an expectedcontribution of the portion of the system (e.g. due to a phasecontribution of the portion of the system, e.g. by the number ofcylinders and/or phases of a pump contributing thereto), 2) detectingthe actual contribution of the portion of the system (e.g. detecting theindividual pulses of the portion of the system and the phases thereof),and 3) comparing the expected contribution to the actual contribution todetermine if (a few examples): the equipment is operating properly, orif the equipment has not yet been activated, or if one of the cylindersis not operating properly, etc.

An example controller 112 includes the ground movement descriptionmodule 202 that determines the movement profile 212 in response to atime value 230 of the ground based area 102. For example, the groundmovement description module 202 calculates phase values 228 in themovement of the ground based area 102, and provides the movement profile212 in response to the phase values 228. For example, and withoutlimitation, the ground movement description module 202 determines anexpected progress of the movement profile 212 over time, and/or monitorsthat no movement has occurred as expected over time, and determineswhether a treatment or operation is successful or has failed in responseto the movement profile 212.

An example controller 112 further includes a synchronization module 204that interprets a time profile value 232 corresponding to an externalevent 234, and synchronizes the determining of the movement profile 212to the external event 234. The synchronizing the movement profile 212 tothe external event 234 can include, without limitation, correcting thedetection array 110 such that the movement profile 212 is createdindependent of the external event 234, and/or creation of the movementprofile 212 recognizing the effect of the external event 234 on themovement profile 212. Example and non-limiting external events 234include external events that induce a mechanical stress that are inmechanical stress coupling to the ground based area 102, such as but notlimited to construction events, pumping events, seismic events,underground events (not shown), and/or other events known in the art.External inducing equipment may be within the ground based area such ason-location inducing equipment 114 a, or outside the ground based areasuch as remote inducing equipment 114 b, and may communicate directlywith the controller 112, or may communicate indirectly—for example byoperating in an agreed upon schedule or manner. In certain embodiments,the ground movement description module 202 further relates at least aportion of the movement profile 212 to the external event 234 in thetime domain.

In certain embodiments, the system 100 includes an energy inducingdevice operationally coupled to the ground based area 102, such as theon-location inducing equipment 114 a and/or the remote inducingequipment 114 b, and the ground movement description module is furtherdetermines the movement profile 212 in response to an energy inducingevent 240 from the energy inducing device 114 a, 114 b. Example andnon-limiting determinations of the movement profile 212 from the energyinducing events 240 include determining: at least one arrival time 242from the entering inducing device, a position 244 of the energy inducingevent 240, an extent 246 of the energy inducing event, and/or acontainment 248 (or lack thereof) of the energy inducing event. Anexample energy inducing devices includes an explosive device, such as anexplosive utilized in demolition, construction, road building, a seismicsource, a thumper truck, and/or a perforating tool. Another exampleenergy inducing device includes a hydraulic hammer (e.g. a seismicsource) or other hydraulic and/or pneumatic device, a sonic device, anultrasonic device, an electrically operated device, a pneumaticallyoperated device, a hydraulic inducement, and/or a hydraulically operateddevice. The energy inducements listed may be the initial energy sourcelisted, and/or may be the inducement energy source, with a prime moversuch as an internal combustion engine or the like driving the inducementenergy source. The term “energy inducing device” 114 a, 114 b should beunderstood broadly to be any device capable of mechanically engaging theground based area 102 in a manner sufficiently to be detectable asmovement by the EM interrogation device(s) 104, 118, either throughdeliberate operations of the energy inducing devices 114 a, 114 b,and/or as a byproduct of other operations of the energy inducing devices114 a, 114 b.

An example system 100 further includes the ground movement descriptionmodule 202 determining the movement profile 212 in response to an energyinducing event 240 by determining an extent 246 of the inducing, wherethe extent 246 of the inducing is a spatial extent. An example extent246 of the inducing includes an X-Y description of an area affected bythe energy inducing event 240. Another example extent 246 of theinducing includes an indicator that the energy inducing event hasexceeded a threshold extent value. In certain embodiments, the thresholdextent value can be an azimuthal threshold value, for example an Xdirectional value, a Y directional value, or some radial angle value inthe X-Y plane, and/or the extent can be a Z-directional value, such asan indication that a given area of the ground based area 102 has raisedbeyond a threshold value, and/or that some movement has occurredconsistent with movement somewhere else in the system 100. The providedexamples determining the extent 246 values are non-limiting examples,and combinations of these, and/or other extent values understood to oneof skill in the art having the benefit of the disclosures herein, arecontemplated herein.

An example system 100 includes the ground movement description module202 determining the movement profile 212 in response to an arrivaltime(s) 242 following the energy inducing event 240. For example, anenergy inducing device 114 b may be in communication with the EMinterrogation device 104, and/or the devices 104, 114 b may otherwise besynchronized, such that the ground movement description module 202 isable to determine an observed time lag between the energy inducing event240 and the arrival of movement consistent with resulting pressure waves(P-waves) and shear waves (S-waves). Additionally or alternatively, asignal may be introduced to the energy inducing event 240 such that thestart time between at least two energy inducing events may be inducedfrom the event itself—for example through a sequenced set of energyevents, or the like.

An example system 100 includes the ground movement description module202 determining the movement profile 212 in response to a position 244of the energy inducing event 240. For example, an exact location of aperforating event in a horizontal wellbore may be unknown, and aposition within the ground based area 102 experiencing the greatestacceleration, velocity, and/or positional movement at a time of firingof the perforating gun may be estimated to be the position of theperforating gun at the time of firing. The information provided by theground movement description module 202 may be combined with otherinformation available, such as how far the tool has run in the wellbore(not shown), how deep the well is, the angle and wellbore trajectory,etc., to provide an estimate of the position of the perforating gun atthe time of firing. Additionally or alternatively, the position 244 ofthe energy inducing event 240 may be a position of an injection into aformation, of a wellbore screen-out event, of a failing pump, of afailing piece of equipment, of a degrading piece of equipment,confirmation of correct placement of an energy inducing device 114 a,114 b, and/or identification of equipment layout at a location (e.g. byconfirming placement of several energy inducing devices 114 a).

An example system 100 includes the ground movement description module202 determining the movement profile 212 in response to a containmentvalue 248 of the energy inducing event 240. An example includesdetermining that the energy inducing event 240 has not broken out of adesignated zone—for example that movement of the ground based area 102is consistent with zone containment in a hydraulic fracture treatmentfor a shallow horizontal shale or coal bed methane well. In certainembodiments, the controller 112 is in communication with the energyinducing device 114 a, and upon detecting movement of the ground basedarea 102 consistent with a loss of containment or an imminent loss ofcontainment, the controller 112 can communicate with the energy inducingdevice 114 a and/or an operator thereto to take corrective actions toprevent or mitigate the loss of containment. Example and non-limitingactions include a reduction in the pumping rate, stopping pumpingoperations, and/or a reduction in the fluid viscosity being pumped intothe formation.

In certain embodiments, the movement profile 212 includes a spatialresolution value 214 of not greater than 1 square foot pixels, a spatialresolution value of not greater than 1 square inch pixels, and/or aspatial resolution value of not greater than 1 square centimeter pixels.The range precision measured in each pixel may be a value no greaterthan 0.1 mm, or no greater than 1 mm, or no greater than 1 cm, or nogreater than 1 inch, or no greater than 1 foot. Range resolution valuesmay be no greater than 0.1 mm, or no greater than 1 mm, or no greaterthan 1 cm, or no greater than 1 inch, or no greater than 1 foot.Referencing FIG. 1, a grid 116 is illustrated on the ground based area102 depicting a portion of the ground based area 102 showing anillustrative resolution of the area. The selection of a spatialresolution value 214 depends upon the purpose for determining themovement profile 212, and modern EM interrogation devices 104, 118 knownto those of skill in the art are fully capable of resolutions of 1 cm oreven smaller if the purpose of the system 100 makes such resolutiondesirable. Determination of hydraulic fracture lengths on the order ofhundreds of feet may not require a resolution of 1 square cm, but couldbe 1 square foot or even greater. Determination of a bridge failurelocation with the best possible resolution, or attempting to identifymovement in separate treating lines from one another—which may beseveral inches across—may lead one of skill in the art to select aspatial resolution of 1 square cm. One of skill in the art, having thebenefit of the disclosures herein, can select a detector array 110 andappropriate processing equipment 112 to develop the desired spatialresolution value 214 for a particular system 100.

An example system 100 includes a number of EM interrogation devices 104,118. Each device 104, 118 includes an EM emitter 106, 120, and eachemitter 106, 120 directs at least one EM beam 108, 122 to the groundbased area 102. Each EM interrogation device 104, 118 further includes adetector array 110, 124 which receives reflected radiation 210 from theground based area 102, which may be received through the same or adistinct aperture from the aperture utilized by the emitter 106, 120.The detector array 110, 124 may receive reflected radiation from a beamsplitter, or may be somewhat remotely located from the emitter 106, 120,as will be understood to those skilled in the art. Each EM interrogationdevice 104, 118 in the example further includes a transceiver 126, 128for providing wireless communications to and from a controller 112, 124,although the controllers 112, 124 may be in communication with otherportions of the system 100 by any other communication devices understoodin the art.

The controllers 112, 124, as described above, form a portion of aprocessing subsystem, and may be distributed devices and/or combined.The controllers 112, 124 may be on the EM interrogation devices 104, 118as depicted in FIG. 1, in whole or part, or may be remote from the EMinterrogation devices. The controllers 112, 124 are in operativecommunication with any sensor and/or actuator in the system 100 asneeded to perform any operations of the controllers described herein.

The EM interrogation devices 104, 118 are schematically depicted in FIG.1 as being deployed on dirigibles, which may be positioned by GPS.However, the EM interrogation devices 104, 118 may be positioned at thelocation 134 above the ground based area 102 in any fashion, includingat least on a tower, on a boom, on a drone, on an unmanned air vehicle,UAV, on a helicopter, on a tethered or untethered balloon, on a rig,and/or on any structure that is already present at the location 134.While being present on a stationary or a controlled-movement object ishelpful, the EM interrogation devices 104, 118 can be positioned on amoving object, as the controller 112, 124 can correct formovement—including flight such as from a plane, a UAV, or a drone.Additionally, while being closer to straight above the ground based area102 is helpful, the controller 112, 124 can correct for skew, includinga significant amount of skew exceeding 45 degrees from the horizontal.Additionally, in certain embodiments the EM interrogation devices 104,118 may be in position only intermittently during the observation periodand still build a movement profile 212 of the ground based area 102.

In certain embodiments, the EM interrogation devices 104, 118corresponding to a number of EM emitters 106, 120, each directing acorresponding EM beam 108, 122 at the ground based area, and each havinga corresponding detector array 110, 124 that receives reflected EMradiation 210 from the corresponding EM beams. The controllers 112, 124each have a ground movement description module 202 that determines amovement profile 212 of the ground based area 102 in response to thereflected EM radiation from each of the corresponding EM beams 108, 122.The system 100 further includes the ground movement description module202 determine the movement profile 212 in response to a common modenoise reduction operation 218. For example, the ground movementdescription module 202 rejects and/or reduces noise appearing on bothdetector arrays 110, 124—which may include checking for time phase lag,etc. if such is sensible for the physical system (e.g. the EM emitters106, 120 are differentially spaced, and a 0.25 seconds of lag isappearing in a common mode noise).

The example system 100 further includes the controllers 112, 124 havinga noise input module 206 that interprets a time synchronized known noisevalue 236 where the ground movement description module 202 furtherdetermines the movement profile 212 in response to a known noisereduction operation 238 performed in response to the time synchronizedknown noise value 236. For example, the energy inducing devices 114 amay have a superficial surface disturbance on a planned schedule that isknown to disturb the surface in a known way, and the noise input module206 will input the planned schedule as the known noise reductionoperation 238 to either ignore those time periods and/or correct forthem in a known manner. Non-limiting examples include demolitionoperations, pumping operations, drilling operations, etc.

An example system 100 further includes a gas composition detector (notshown—but it can share the same equipment with the EM emitter 106) thatinterrogates an air volume in proximity to the ground based area 102with an EM radiation including at least a selected spectral frequencyvalue 250, a second detector array (not shown) structured to receive thereflected EM radiation 210 having the selected spectral frequency value250 and to provide a detected response value 254, and where thecontroller 112 further includes a composition determination module 208that determines a gas composition value 256 in response to the detectedresponse value 254.

A fraction of a laser or coherent light will reflect off the atmosphereback to a detector, and in one example if the light includes a referencefrequency or wavelength which does not substantially absorb, along withlight having frequencies within an absorption spectrum for a species ofinterest 252, then an absorption differential can determine the gascomposition value 256. In certain embodiments, the gas composition value256 includes an indication of the species of interest 252 in the airvolume in proximity to the ground based area 102. In certain furtherembodiments, the species of interest includes CO₂, H₂S, a natural gascomponent, and/or a tracer material. In certain embodiments, the naturalgas component includes a hydrocarbon species having between 1 and 4Carbons. In certain embodiments, the tracer material includes a materialincluded in a wellbore treatment.

An example system includes the movement profile 212 having a depth offield value 216 with a resolution of not greater than 1 mm.

It will be understood by one of skill in the art, having the benefit ofthe disclosures herein, that the disclosures herein provide numerousimprovements to various technologies and technological fields. Withoutlimitation, technologies improved include the maintenance, service, andconstruction of civil engineering projects (buildings, bridges, roads,parking lots), through-solid material communication technologies, thetracking of substrate movement in response to both acute events and overtime, and the improved ability to detect the presence of undesired ordangerous substances, or to confirm the presence of desired substances,which is particularly applicable to many civil and geologicalapplications. Without limitation, improved technological fields includecivil engineering, construction, geology, land use maintenance, roadmaintenance, and oil field applications.

The schematic operational descriptions which follow providesillustrative embodiments of performing procedures for determining amovement profile for a ground based area. Operations illustrated areunderstood to be exemplary only, and operations may be combined ordivided, and added or removed, as well as re-ordered in whole or part,unless stated explicitly to the contrary herein. Certain operationsillustrated may be implemented by a computer executing a computerprogram product on a non-transient computer readable storage medium,where the computer program product comprises instructions causing thecomputer to execute one or more of the operations, or to issue commandsto other devices to execute one or more of the operations.

A method includes an operation to direct an electromagnetic (EM) beam ata ground based area, to receive reflected EM radiation from the EM beamat a detector array, and to determine a movement profile of the groundbased area. An example method further includes an operation to determinethe ground based movement corresponding to at least a portion of theground based area, the description of the ground based movementincluding a velocity value, a position value, an acceleration value, afrequency value, a phase value, and/or a time value. An example methodfurther includes an operation to synchronize the determining to anexternal event, and an operation to relate at least a portion of themovement profile to the external event in the time domain.

An example method further includes an operation to induce a groundenergy event, where the operation to determine the movement profile ofthe ground based area is in response to the inducing. A further examplemethod includes an operation to determine at least one arrival timeevent, an operation to determine a position of the inducing, anoperation to determine an extent of the inducing, and/or an operation todetermine a containment of the inducing.

An example method includes an operation to determine the movementprofile with a spatial resolution not exceeding: greater than 1 squarefoot pixels, greater than 1 square inch pixels, and/or greater than 1square centimeter pixels. An example method includes an operation todetermine a number of movement profiles from a corresponding number ofdetector arrays positioned around the ground based area. An examplemethod includes an operation to determine the movement profile byperforming a common mode noise operation, and/or by interpreting a timesynchronized known noise value and performing a known noise reductionoperation in response to the time synchronized known noise value.

An example method includes an operation to interrogate an air volume inproximity to the ground based area with EM radiation including at leasta selected spectral frequency value, an operation to receive reflectedEM radiation from the EM radiation including the selected spectralfrequency value, and an operation to determine the presence of a speciesof interest in the air volume in response to the reflected EM radiation.A further example method includes the species of interest being CO₂,H₂S, a natural gas component, and/or a tracer material.

An example method includes an operation to determine movement of aground-based area, including illuminating the ground-based area with anelectro-magnetic (EM) radiation device, and receiving reflected EMradiation from the ground-based area in response to the illuminating.The example method further includes processing the reflected EMradiation to determine movement information of at least a portion of theground-based area in response to the receiving the reflected EMradiation. Example movement information includes at least one ofdisplacement, velocity, acceleration, vibration, and movement frequencyinformation of at least a portion of the ground-based area. The examplemethod includes performing further operations including diagnosing aground based operation, diagnosing a ground based device, receiving acommunication from a device in vibrational communication with theground-based area, and/or determining a status of a ground basedoperation in response to the movement information. An example methodfurther includes illuminating the ground-based area with an EM radiationdevice further including operating a differential absorption EMdetection and receiving device, a Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy(LIBS) device, and/or a Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF) device andidentifying a species of interest in the air volume in proximity to theground-based area.

As is evident from the figures and text presented above, a variety ofembodiments according to the present disclosure are contemplated. Anyexample system and/or module described herein may include any knownhardware and/or process to implement the described features. One ofskill in the art, having the benefit of the disclosures herein, willunderstand various embodiments to implement aspects of the disclosuresherein. In certain embodiments, certain features may be implemented inaccordance with certain hardware and/or processes described in the“Field Guide to Lidar,” by Paul McManamon, published by SPIE Press asISBN-13:978-16284 16541, and ISBN-10:16284 16548, available as of Mar.30, 2015 on www.amazon.com, which is incorporated herein by reference inthe entirety for all purposes.

While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in thedrawings and foregoing description, the same is to be considered asillustrative and not restrictive in character, it being understood thatonly certain exemplary embodiments have been shown and described. Thoseskilled in the art will appreciate that many modifications are possiblein the example embodiments without materially departing from thisinvention. Accordingly, all such modifications are intended to beincluded within the scope of this disclosure.

In reading the claims, it is intended that when words such as “a,” “an,”“at least one,” or “at least one portion” are used there is no intentionto limit the claim to only one item unless specifically stated to thecontrary in the claim. When the language “at least a portion” and/or “aportion” is used the item can include a portion and/or the entire itemunless specifically stated to the contrary.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: directing anelectromagnetic (EM) beam at a ground based area, wherein the EM beamcomprises a coherent LIDAR; inducing a ground energy event; receivingreflected EM radiation from the EM beam at a detector array; utilizing alocal oscillator (LO) to measure phase of the received reflected EMradiation to provide range and/or velocity measurements of the groundbased area; determining a movement profile of the ground based area inresponse to the inducing; and determining a containment of the inducingin response to the determining the movement profile.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the determining comprises determining a description ofground based movement corresponding to at least a portion of the groundbased area, the description of the ground based movement comprising atleast one member selected from the members consisting of: a velocityvalue, a position value, an acceleration value, a frequency value, aphase value, and a time value.
 3. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising synchronizing the determining to an external event, andrelating at least a portion of the movement profile to the externalevent in a time domain.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein thedetermining the movement profile further comprises determining at leastone arrival time event.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein thedetermining the movement profile further comprises determining aposition of the inducing.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein thedetermining the movement profile further comprises determining an extentof the inducing.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining themovement profile comprises determining the movement profile of theground based area with a spatial resolution value selected from: notgreater than 1 square foot pixels, not greater than 1 square inchpixels, and not greater than 1 square centimeter pixels.
 8. The methodof claim 1, further comprising determining a plurality of movementprofiles from a plurality of detector arrays positioned around theground based area.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining themovement profile further comprises performing a common mode noisereduction.
 10. The method of claim 1, further comprising interpreting atime synchronized known noise value, and wherein the determining themovement profile further comprises performing a known noise reductionoperation in response to the time synchronized known noise value. 11.The method of claim 1, wherein the movement profile further comprises adepth of field value of not greater than 1 mm.
 12. The method of claim1, wherein the ground based area comprises at least one of an earthbased structure and an artificial structure.
 13. A system, comprising: aground based area; an electromagnetic (EM) interrogation device having acoherent LIDAR EM emitter structured to direct an EM beam at the groundbased area, and having a detector array structured to receive reflectedEM radiation from the EM beam; a local oscillator (LO); a controllerhaving a ground movement description module structured to determine amovement profile of the ground based area in response to a comparison ofthe reflected EM radiation to a signal of the LO; and an energy inducingdevice operationally coupled to the ground based area; wherein theground movement description module is further structured to determinethe movement profile further in response to an energy inducing eventfrom the energy inducing device; and wherein the ground movementdescription module is further structured to determine a containment ofthe inducing in response to the movement profile.
 14. The system ofclaim 13, wherein the ground movement description module is furtherstructured to determine the movement profile in response to at least onemember selected from a velocity value, a position value, an accelerationvalue, a frequency value, a phase value, and a time value.
 15. Thesystem of claim 13, wherein the controller further comprises asynchronization module structured to interpret a time profile valuecorresponding to an external event, and to synchronize the determiningof the movement profile to the external event, and wherein the groundmovement description module is further structured to relate at least aportion of the movement profile to the external event in the timedomain.
 16. The system of claim 13, wherein the ground movementdescription module is further structured to determine the movementprofile further in response to an energy inducing event by determiningat least one arrival time event of the energy inducing event.
 17. Thesystem of claim 13, wherein the ground movement description module isfurther structured to determine the movement profile further in responseto an energy inducing event by determining a position of the energyinducing event.
 18. The system of claim 13, wherein the energy inducingdevice comprises at least one energy inducing device selected from: anexplosive device, a hydraulic hammer, a sonic device, an ultrasonicdevice, an electrically operated device, a pneumatically operateddevice, a hydraulic inducement, and a hydraulically operated device. 19.The system of claim 13, wherein the ground movement description moduleis further structured to determine the movement profile further inresponse to an energy inducing event by determining an extent of theinducing.
 20. The system of claim 13, further comprising a plurality ofEM interrogation devices corresponding to a plurality of EM emitters,each structured to direct a corresponding EM beam at the ground basedarea, and each having a corresponding detector array structured toreceive reflected EM radiation from the corresponding EM beams; and atleast one controller having at least one ground movement descriptionmodule structured to determine a plurality of movement profiles of theground based area in response to the reflected EM radiation from each ofthe corresponding EM beams.
 21. The system of claim 13, wherein theground movement description module is further structured to determinethe movement profile in response to a common mode noise reductionoperation.
 22. The system of claim 13, wherein the controller furthercomprises a noise input module structured to interpret a timesynchronized known noise value, and wherein the ground movementdescription module is further structured to determine the movementprofile in response to a known noise reduction operation performed inresponse to the time synchronized known noise value.
 23. The system ofclaim 13, further comprising a gas composition detector structured tointerrogate an air volume in proximity to the ground based area with anEM radiation including at least a selected spectral frequency value, asecond detector array structured to receive the reflected EM radiationhaving the selected spectral frequency value and to provide a detectedresponse value, and wherein the controller further comprises acomposition determination module structured to determine a gascomposition value in response to the detected response value.
 24. Thesystem of claim 23, wherein the gas composition value comprises theindication of a species of interest in the air volume in proximity tothe ground based area.
 25. The system of claim 23, wherein the speciesof interest comprises at least one species selected from CO₂, H₂S, anatural gas component, and a tracer material.
 26. The system of claim13, wherein the movement profile further comprises a depth of fieldvalue of not greater than 1 mm.
 27. The system of claim 13, wherein theground based area comprises at least one of an earth based structure andan artificial structure.